Three's A Crowd!
by Cookie-chi
Summary: Naruto Ino Neji? When the odd trio are sent on a mission together, they soon learn a whole lot more about each other, and about themselves. Friendship and chaos blossom, and perhaps something more. NaruIno
1. Chapter 1

**Three's A Crowd!**

**Chapter One**

_**A/N Hello, welcome to my first NaruIno fanficcie (so sorry if it's crud)!!! A pairing that needs more love! Anyway, hope you like it, and if you're wondering why I chose Neji to be the gooseberry well…I don't know why, so nyeh, enjoy!**_

**_Oh and Naruto and the gang are about 18-19ish, so yah._**

OOOOOOOOOO

A beautiful sunset had materialized above the village hidden in the leaves, a pair of cerulean eyes met sparkling emerald ones, a woman with tendrils of light pink hair stood before him. Naruto was mesmerised by her beauty, slowly she opened her soft lips to speak.

"Naruto I-"

_beep beep…_

"You what?"

_beep beep…_

"_I said I-"_

_beep beep_

…

_BEEP BEEP_

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Naruto shot out of bed in a panic, before realising where that torturous sound was coming from, sluggishly he shuffled over to his alarm clock to turn the blasted thing off. The time read 6:00AM

"Ugh, just a dream _again._" The blonde's once wide eyes seemed half asleep again, after getting rid of the bleeping and finding out that Sakura wasn't really going to confess her love to him, the day suddenly didn't seem so important. He wiped his eyes as the sun glared in through the window, he wasn't keen on this time of year when the sun would rise so early; he really needed to invest in some curtains.

The Uzumaki sauntered into the kitchen, managing to avoid all of the mess that cluttered up his floor, it was as if he knew where every piece of junk was and could dodge it blindly. He opened up the fridge, only to find some gone off milk and well…nothing else. Sighing he closed the door again, the calendar on the door suddenly caught his attention.

Today's date had been circled; curiously he lifted a brow, trying to remember what was so important.

"Ah!! The mission!!" Once again his eyes beamed, he was excited to be having a mission again; it had been so long. He was due at the Hokage's office this morning to get the mission briefing, but it already looked like he was going to be late. At an amazing pace, the teen managed to get washed and dressed before packing his belongings and leaving. Naruto had gotten into the habit at leaving at the last minute, he never got into a panic about it though; after having so many missions with Kakashi teaching them, Naruto was actually quite prompt in comparison.

The village was blissfully quiet that morning, shops hadn't opened up yet so there wasn't all that hustle and bustle, infact, the only other person out was another blonde he was all too familiar with.

"Ino?" Naruto called over, making sure he wasn't still half asleep and it was actually who he thought it was. As soon as she turned, she quirked a brow right back at him.

"Naruto? What are you doing up at this hour?" She inquired as Naruto made his way over to the purple-clad ninja.

"Heehee, I've got a mission!" He told her enthusiastically. Suddenly she narrowed her eyes at the other blonde as he strode quite casually beside her with his hands resting on the back of his head.

"Oh great, don't tell me you're going to be on the same mission as me…" The blonde sighed, dipping her head so that she was staring at the cobbles.

"Hey! What's wrong with working with me!!" Naruto asked defiantly, he glared at the Yamanaka girl, who did she think she was anyway?

"Ugh, nothing I guess, its just…well you don't really have a good record of not screwing up…"

From then on, the conversation was more like an argument, Ino bad-mouthing Naruto, and him bad-mouthing her. In the end all the two of them wanted was a mission away from a mundane lifestyle and a little more money in their pockets, but nevertheless, it didn't mean they wanted to achieve those goals on the same team.

At that moment, Naruto couldn't understand why everyone compared Sakura to this…girl. Sakura was beautiful, charming and um, perhaps a little brash. And Ino…Ino was _just _brash.

Finally the two of them had made their way to the Hokage's office, they climbed the stairwell before entering the small room where Tsunade could always be found pretending to work. The Hokage looked up at the two new arrivals, as they turned to Tsunade and…

Neji?

"So nice of you to join us at last," Tsunade commented before her eyes darted to the clock in the room, Ino and Naruto shot each other a glance, inwardly blaming the other for their late arrival.

"Hehe, sorry granny." Naruto said sheepishly, causing the Hokage to furrow her brows. "Yo Neji, what are you doing here?" He asked the Hyuuga, who was suddenly looking a little…panicked.

"You're not telling me…_these _two are going to be on my team."

"Whaa?" Naruto couldn't understand why no-one wanted to have him on their team, the Uzumaki suddenly couldn't keep his cool and aimed his pointing finger at the brunette defensively.

"Hey mister I-don't-need-Naruto's-help! Who was it that beat you in the Chuunin exams huh!? Yeah, take THAT!!"

Soon Neji had turned back to Naruto, responding to his silly game of insults. "That was a long time ago, and besides, which one of us is a Jounin, and which one of us is still a measly genin?"

The fact that he didn't even say that with an expression on his face made Naruto even madder, and here he'd thought the years had changed the Hyuuga. "Yeah well, you may be a jounin but your still a jerk." Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"ANYWAY!" Tsunade slammed her fist on the table (luckily with enough control to not break it) and quickly gained everyone's attention. "I've gathered you all here to give you the mission briefing once more, since Naruto only found out about this mission yesterday he still doesn't know what it involves."

"Wha?! You guys already know?!"

"Well, you were a last resort Naruto." Tsunade told him sternly, which soon caused Ino to smirk. The Hokage noticed it quickly though.

"And you weren't exactly first choice either Ino." That quickly wiped the smirk off of her face.

"Nyeh, nyeh!" Naruto chimed quite happily before Tsunade slammed her fist on the table again, causing a pile of her paperwork to fall onto the floor.

"Can we PLEASE get on with this?" The group finally remained silent, and Tsunade could finally go over the last few details. "As most of you know, Lee and Tenten recently went on a mission to a small village in the land of water, it wasn't an easy mission, but most defiantly not the hardest for ninjas of Lee and Tenten's standards. However, they were due back almost a week ago and haven't returned yet."

"So basically you need us to go and bring them back?" Ino questioned.

"If they have been captured then yes, another possibility is that they may be having trouble and need some reinforcements."

"Maybe they're not so good after all…" Naruto mumbled, causing Neji to give him a cold hard stare, at least Naruto knew then that Neji may have been a jerk at times, but he did care about and had faith in his own team mates. Soon the blonde turned to Neji, waving his arms frantically with a sheepish grin on his face, "Hey, hey it was just a little joke! Ehehehe…"

"Well enough of the joking Naruto, this is serious, and if I have to pull you off this mission I will."

At that moment Naruto finally shut his trap.

"No offence Hokage-sama, but I really don't see the point of a three-man squad when you were quite happy to let Tenten and Lee go off by themselves. In all honestly, I believe this mission will be done a lot faster if I just do it myself."

Naruto was so tempted to have another go at Neji, but then again, he didn't want to be pulled off a mission when he was in desperate need of some extra cash and something interesting to occupy his time. His eyes glanced over to Ino, he wondered why she was being so quiet, usually she was as much of a loud-mouth as he was, and even when Neji questioned their abilities she didn't seem to speak up…

"I understand where your coming from Neji, but I'm afraid if it does turn out to be a kidnapping, I'd rather more of you went; at least that way there's more chance of one of you not being caught and being able to tell us where they're being held."

Ino now glanced over at Neji, she couldn't help wondering why Lee an Tenten had been assigned a mission without him, she'd probably try and worm an answer out of him later, but for now, she just stuck to listening what Tsunade had to say.

"Well, why these two then? I know Naruto was a last resort but I can't see how Ino will be of any help to us."

Instantly, Ino felt an ache in her chest, his words had really hurt her, and she wouldn't stand for it, she was a damn good kunoichi!

"Hey! What wrong with me?!"

"What's not wrong with you?" The brunette answered back, and soon it silenced her, she was so mad but at the same time she couldn't find an answer, she didn't have a good track record…perhaps it wasn't as bad a Naruto's, but at least Naruto had been able to prove himself to Neji in the past. Even now when they slung insults, deep inside both of them had some ounce of respect for the other. But what about her, what made her a good choice for this, for anything!

"Hey! Haven't you forgotten something?!" Naruto jumped in, forgetting that he'd been told to shut up countless times.

"What is it?"

"How about the fact that she's the only one of us who knows any medical jutsus?"

Ino stood in shock, her mouth slightly ajar. Half of her felt stupid for not saying that in the first place, and the other half was just surprised that Naruto was sticking up for her after all of the squabbling they'd been doing.

"For once, he's got a good point…" Tsunade agreed, whilst Ino's shocked expression turned into a smile.

"Yeah! Come on Neji, with our help this mission will be a breeze!"

He sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

"Well then, now that's all settled let's not waste anymore time…"

OOOOO

Soon the trio were making their way to the village gates to head out on their journey. Neji was at the front of the pack, his eyes scanning the map in his hands and the area around him, making sure he didn't bump into any of the villagers. As team leader he had insisted on keeping the map and planning their route to the Land of Water, knowing his comrades, one of them would have destroyed the map, whilst the other would probably try and make it into some fancy hat.

Meanwhile Ino and Naruto trailed behind, Naruto was kicking stones as he walked, paying no attention to the surroundings whilst he carelessly got in others' ways. Ino turned to the Uzumaki before clearing her throat to speak to him.

"Hey, how come you stuck up for me back there?" She asked bluntly, she was never the type to beat around the bush, and her curiosity had begun to get the better of her. Naruto turned his attention away from the stones to talk to her.

"Well, what I said was true right? And besides, it'd be pretty boring to spend a whole mission with just Neji." He whispered over to her, making sure their team-leader didn't hear.

Ino wasn't surprised by his answer, but she wasn't offended by the fact that he stuck up for her to cure his boredom either; she probably wouldn't want to spend a mission alone with Neji either. She actually found his remark quite amusing, "Thanks Naruto."

"No problem, Neji was being pretty mean to both of us…"

"Yeah, but at the same time, who can blame him? I'd be a little cranky if my team mates suddenly went missing…"

Naruto's eyes fell to the floor, he hadn't actually thought of it that way, he remembered the immense pain he felt when Sasuke had left, and it only got worse when they failed to bring him back. Looking up ahead Naruto noticed they were finally nearing the gates. His attention focused on Neji, a glint of determination glowed in the teen's eyes. He may not have been able to save Sasuke, but he wouldn't let Neji suffer the same pain of loosing those people dear to him, even when he was an angsty, boring and way-too serious team leader.

The two blondes began to jog in order to catch up to Neji whilst the gates were being opened. The brunette stopped abruptly, causing Naruto to go straight into the back of him. Naruto nursed his bruised nose (even Neji's soft clothing couldn't save Naruto from his sharp shoulder blades) whilst Neji remained still.

"Uhh, why'd you stop?" Ino questioned as Neji turned to the two of them.

"Before we depart, I just want to apologise to you Ino, I don't want there to be a bad atmosphere between us, so if I offended you earlier then I hope you wont hold a grudge against me."

Ino had never really spent much time with Neji, but she was glad that the years had made him a little more polite.

"And Naruto, just be thankful that it's not just the two of us, since I know how much you'd despise that." Once again he began walking, leaving behind a dumbfounded Naruto and a cheerful Ino.

"No way, he heard me say that?"

"Yes I did, so don't try anything funny…I have eyes in the back of my head…"

With that he kept on walking, a bead of sweat trickled down Naruto's forehead. '_Who knew Neji's creepiness could rival Shino's and Yamato's?' _Reluctantly Naruto followed with Ino. The kunoichi smiled to herself, maybe this combination wouldn't be so bad after all, there were so many things she didn't know about these two, and she imagined things would get pretty interesting…

OOOOOOOOOO

_**A/N So-o yeah, that's it for the first chappie, not very interesting but oh well, it'll get better!! Anyways, let me know what you think so far, ja ne for nows!!!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Three's A Crowd!**

**Chapter Two**

_**A/N- Wow, I'm actually a little disappointed with the lack of response, NaruIno really DOES need more love! So yeah, enough of my ranting, enjoy chappie number two! **_

OOOOOOOOOO

The three shinobi made their way through all kinds of terrain, most of their travelling was done by hopping from tree branch to tree branch, the trio remained quiet the majority of the journey, which was surprising for Ino and Naruto. Naruto was the first one to break the silence, with his stomach growling violently. Ino gave him a look of surprise, she hadn't even heard Chouji's stomach make that much noise, but then he always did have some snacks on hand whenever he needed them.

"Ehehe, forgot to have breakfast this morning…" The blonde sufficed, causing Ino to sigh before she turned to Neji.

"Uh, maybe we should stop for a little while?" She said before halting on one of the tree branches. The two males both stopped too, Neji turned back to his comrades with a look of disapproval.

"I'm not sure if that's such a wise idea, this area is known to be swarming with ninjas who are just out looking for fights."

"Awh, come on Neji, they're probably just academy students who think they're really tough, I doubt they'd hassle us!" Naruto chimed, his hand gripping his rumbling stomach all the while. "And besides all else, I'm hungry!!"

"As if that wasn't obvious already…"

Neji sighed to himself, he was used to having a team that could follow orders, but these two were defiant all right, it seemed as though they cared more for their own well being than the mission they were assigned. Neji was beginning to feel more like a parent than the leader. Jumping down from the tree branch, Neji picked up a nearby twig, marking an 'X' in the soil beneath them.

"Fine, but if you have to go off then we'll meet up back here, and I don't want to stop for too long, an hour at the most. That way we'll still be able to reach a safe place to camp before it gets dark."

Looking up from his 'X' Mark on the ground, Neji noticed only one of his comrades was listening, the other had disappeared altogether.

"…Naruto?"

Turning around, Ino also noticed that the other male had gone missing, she turned back to Neji, and she was sure that if she squinted hard enough she'd be able to see steam coming out of his ears.

"Well don't just stand there, find him!" The Hyuuga shouted, the annoyance in his voice obvious.

"Uh right!" With that Ino turned on her heel and set out into the forest in search of Naruto, she didn't really like the way Neji spoke to her, but for now she'd just keep telling herself that the loss of his teammates was worrying him, and making him a little cranky.

With a sigh, Neji sat down, leaning against a near-by tree _'Why did it have to be those two?' _He wondered to himself.

OOOOO

"Naruto? …… Naruuuuutooooo? Are you there?" Ino called out into the woodland, her bright blue eyes stared up at the treetops, an occasional beam of sunlight would manage to seep through the foliage from time to time, obscuring her vision for a moment. She felt as though she had been walking around in circles, and all she could hear were birds chirping and the odd snapping of a twig underneath her feet. No sign or sound of Naruto anywhere…

"It's so quiet…almost…too quiet," Ino mumbled to herself, a bead of sweat rolled down her face._ 'What if something bad happened to him…what if…what if there are bears!?!'_

Slowly Ino began to pace backwards, not liking the idea of facing a pack of bears. _'But if I go back without Naruto, Neji will probably be just as scary as those bears, or maybe he'll like the fact that Naruto's gone, yeah, that's right ehehehehe…'_

Another twig crunched, but this time it wasn't from underneath her foot, it was from.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!"

"BEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRSSS!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

THUMP!

"Bears!?! WHERE!?!" Naruto had been hiding on a treetop above Ino, his plan to scare her had obviously worked, and his mighty roar had even gotten a shill scream out of her, but he hadn't seen any bears. His eyes darted around in fear of those large furry creatures, and suddenly he noticed that Ino had disappeared from his view.

"Ugh, get off me you oaf!" Ino yelled, her face had suddenly become bright red with either fury or embarrassment, she had only ever had thoughts of one male mounting her like this and it certainly hadn't been Naruto. Looking down, the Uzumaki soon found out where that voice was coming from, so that's why his landing had been so warm and soft.

"Oh, sorry Ino, ehehe…" He said before getting up and lending Ino a hand, she quickly got up and brushed herself off, her eyes focused on the ground until the redness of her cheeks died down a little.

"Did you have to do that, I thought you were a bear!"

"So you think bears hide up in the trees now?" Naruto grinned; it was nice that someone on his team had an intelligence level that he could compete with. She glared at him until she began to wonder why he had come out here in the first place.

Naruto sat down, opening the backpack he'd been wearing he pulled out a tub containing some riceballs that looked too good to have been made by Naruto; defiantly shop-bought.

"Why'd you come out all this way just to eat lunch?" Ino asked as Naruto stuffed the first riceball in his mouth. She sat down beside him, watching him choke for a few seconds before finally managing to take a breath and answer her.

"Hm? Oh uh, actually when we were travelling I noticed something around this area, so I thought I'd come and find it."

"Well…what kind of thing?" Ino asked, what could be so important anyway, surely their mission should've been top priority… Suddenly she felt her stomach growl, another flush of red adorned her features as Naruto turned to her, she looked down at his hand, noticing he was holding out a riceball for her.

"Here, I didn't make 'em so they actually taste OK." He said with a chuckle, Ino hesitated, she was always yelling at him and getting annoyed with him, and yet here he was offering her food when she knew all too well how hungry he was. She took the riceball since she hadn't bought her own lunch.

"Thanks," She murmured before taking a bite. "Ew! Pickled plum!" Ino's expression was of disdain as she picked out the pickled plum and just ate the rice around it. Naruto was surprised, he would've thought someone like Ino would just throw it away, but instead she was quite happy to pick at it.

"Ya know, for a lady you're actually a pretty messy eater!"

She scowled at him for a moment or two before he finally began to answer her previous question.

"But anyway, the thing I was actually looking for was this.." He said before rummaging through his bag, soon he showed Ino what seemed to be a purse.

"Uhh…what's so amazing about that?" Ino enquired (although she was impressed that Naruto had noticed this tiny purse from when they had been travelling overhead; it must've been the sequins on it that gave it away), but before she could say anything more her jaw practically fell open when she saw what was inside. "Woah, there's got to be… thousands in there!!!"

Yes, it was nothing more than a few giant wads of cash squashed inside this little purse, Naruto began laughing evilly to himself. "Yup, aren't I the lucky one?"

"Naruto you can't just take some random purse, remember what Neji said?"

A blank expression adorned Naruto's features; of course he wouldn't remember what Neji said. She sighed before continuing.

"There are a lot of dangerous ninja's out here, all looking for fights, for all we know this purse might belong to one of them."

"Oh yeah, 'cause all of the most dangerous ninjas carry pretty pink sequin purses around…"

"Well, looks can be deceiving Naruto," Ino sufficed, but before she could say anymore another voice joined the conversation.

"Hm, that's a nice looking purse you've got there…I might have to take it off you, though its not really my favourite colour."

"Huh?" Naruto looked around, as did Ino, neither of them recognising the new voice. Ino's eyes widened in shock.

'I didn't even hear anyone approach us…this is bad'

Suddenly a swarm of kunai and shuriken came crashing down to where the two shinobi had been sitting, both only just managed to get out of the way in time, leaving Naruto's lunch and backpack to be impaled by the weapons. Once the two blondes caught their breath they looked up to see a kunoichi perched on one of the branches. A cruel smile twisted onto her face.

"I see I'm going to have a lot of fun with you two."

OOOOO

Meanwhile, Neji's ears caught the sound of leaves rustling, he was still sat by the 'X' he'd marked in the ground, waiting for the rest of his team to arrive back. But he had a feeling that the noises he could hear approaching did not belong to either Ino or Naruto. Without hesitation, the Hyuuga activated his bloodline limit.

"Byakugan!"

Just as he'd suspected, enemy ninja were waiting to strike, hidden in the foliage all around him, calmly the teen stood up, counting every last one of them in his head. To think they could fool this prodigy, Neji was confident he could beat every last one of them, even if they did have an unfair advantage in numbers. They had probably picked him thinking he was an easy target, out here all alone.

Neji smirked to himself, if they thought that for a second then he would prove them wrong.

"Twelve of you hm, hardly seems fair, but I'm up for the challenge." He said before taking his stance. "Well?"

And with that, all twelve ninja leapt fourth from their hiding places, all plunging towards Neji with incredible speed.

OOOOO

The kunoichi was dressed in some heavy armour; Ino was surprised at the speed she could move at with all that heavyweight gear on. The enemy withdrew another kunai as she darted towards Ino, Ino wasn't the best at hand to hand combat, and her speed was nothing to be proud of either. Ever since starting her training as a medic-nin, it was as if her fighting skills had become somewhat rusty. _'There's no way I can dodge in time!' _Ino thought to herself, and all she could do was shield herself with her arms.

In the midst of all these thoughts, Ino had barely heard Naruto call out his signature jutsu.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" In a puff of smoke a small heard of clones appeared, one ran towards Ino with great haste, managing to push her out of the way, the opponents kunai was still able to slash into the clone though, and soon the clone was nothing more than smoke.

'_Naruto…' _Ino gasped, watching as his clones all headed towards the enemy, throwing punches and kicks in her direction _'I guess he's gotten stronger, and faster too…' _she admitted to herself. Standing up, a look of determination gleamed in her eyes; if Naruto was going to help her then she would help him.

"Naruto!! Hold her still!" Ino shouted over to the swarm of Naruto's, slowly but surely they were becoming less and less.

"What?"

"Just do it!!"

Naruto didn't really understand her logic, but did as she said, after all; his attacks weren't really doing anything, not with all that armour that this woman wore; perhaps a different approach was needed. With a whole lot of struggle, four Naruto's managed to grab a limb each, holding her tightly in place.

The kunoichi gritted her teeth, not knowing what these two were up to. "Let me go!!" She shouted, but soon her eyes were focused on the girl, who was standing before her, with a smirk plastered onto her face.

"Sorry to spoil your fun, but this is one battle you won't be winning." Ino said with a smile, before forming the hand-sign needed to activate her jutsu.

"Shintenshin no jutsu!"

Soon enough Ino found her mind embedded into her opponent's body, in front of her she could see her own body collapse onto the ground. One of the clones ran over to the body to make sure she was safe whilst the rest disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Naruto turned to the enemy, he knew of Ino's jutsu and knew that she was infact in this other girl's body.

"OK, I need you to tie me up, and hurry!" Ino demanded; her jutsu would only last for so long.

"Woah woah!" Naruto said whilst waving his arms about. "I'm not into all that kinky stuff!"

"Idiot!!" Ino yelled before whacking him over the head. "If we tie this girl up she wont follow us and we can get back to Neji."

"Well, alright, but only if we get to take the money."

"Ugh, fine." Ino agreed, perhaps the money could buy them a room for the night; it would beat spending all the evenings of this mission in a tent. "There's some wire in my leg-pouch." Ino said as the clone and the real Naruto got to work on tying up the enemy to one of the large trees in the forest, they made sure to tie up her hands too, and discard any of the weapons that were still on her attire.

Soon Ino was back in her own body, and the duo quickly made their way back to where they were supposed to meet Neji, leaving behind a kicking and screaming kunoichi.

"I thought Neji said these ninja's were supposed to be tough!" Naruto said with a confident laugh.

Ino laughed along too, giving Naruto a wide smile. "Thanks for helping me out back there by the way."

"No problem, thanks for coming up with the smart idea, if it weren't for you we'd probably still be fighting." Naruto could see a little colour coming to Ino's cheeks, in turn it caused him to blush, this was probably the first time he'd complimented a girl without getting clobbered.

OOOOO

"Well, here's the X" Ino announced, seeing the small marking in the ground.

"Yeah, but where's Neji?" Naruto asked looking around before crossing his arms. "I would've thought he'd be the first here, it's not like him to be late."

"Yeah…" Ino said with a hint of worry in her voice, soon she turned to Naruto, whose eyes had suddenly become wide. "Naruto? What's wrong?"

"Take a look," He said, pointing to a dark stain on the dirt path, on further inspection, both confirmed that it was definitely blood. They both exchanged worried glances, before following the trail of blood; soon they reached the horrifying sight before them.

"NEJI!!"

OOOOOOOOOOO

_**A/N Dun, dun, DUUUUUN! *cough* urhm yeah, please let me know what you think so far, your reviews are my writing inspiration n_n **_

_**Ja ne for now!!!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Three's A Crowd!**

**Chapter Three**

_**A/N I'm back with another chappie! Hope you all had a good new year, urrrhm, yeah n.n On with the show…**_

OOOOOOOOOO

"NEJI!!" The two ran over to their comrade as fast as their legs would take them, the Hyuuga's legs were shaking as he tried to stand up; blood was soaking his attire. Surrounding the group were many fallen shinobi, as well as large craters in the ground; most probably due to Neji's kaiten. The brunette was short of breath; his eyes were only just about able to make out the two figures coming towards him.

Neji's legs buckled beneath him, he was about to fall to the ground but Naruto managed to catch him in time, the Uzumaki's face paled seeing the condition his teammate was in, his upper body only had a few scratches and bruises, but his legs had deep wounds and he was quickly loosing blood.

Ino got to work on the wounds, her healing chakra slowly began to get to work on the Hyuuga's body, Neji bit his tongue and endured the pain, although it hurt he knew that Ino was infact making it better.

"Neji, what happened?" Naruto asked whilst holding him up, he wondered if Neji would even be able to reply.

Thankfully Neji was a strong jounin, one of the best, he turned to Naruto, his voice somewhat dry. "These guys…thought…they'd try to ambush me…heh."

"Are you gonna be OK?"

"I guess… that depends on Ino."

Soon the two males turned their attention to Ino who was finishing off her healing jutsu, her brows arched into a frown. "Well I've closed up the wounds, so hopefully without anymore blood loss you wont feel so faint. But there's still some internal damage that I can't heal, so you'll just have to let time take care of that."

"What?!" Naruto seemed disappointed with that outcome. Ino's expression became more pained.

"I'm sorry but I just don't have that type of training yet! And if it weren't for you wanting to stop none of this would've even happened anyway, so don't blame me!!"

Naruto couldn't deny that she was right; he turned away and frowned. "You're right, and I'm sorry for shouting, its just…" He stood up, fists clenching by his sides.

"It's just that I know what its like to loose a teammate, and Neji's lost two of them!! I don't want him to suffer that pain, because he's already lost family… he shouldn't have to loose friends too, so it just annoys me that these bad things happen and its all my fault. I just want to help but I'm only making things worse."

Both Neji and Ino were shocked by the teen's outburst, neither had seen this more serious and emotional side of Naruto, sure they'd seen his determination in battle, but this was a whole new kind of determination. Neji looked up at Naruto, and gave him one of his rare, yet meaningful smiles.

"Naruto, thank you. I'm sorry if I doubted you being right for this mission, I know your heart's in the right place."

"Yeah, but is that really enough?"

Ino frowned, she was beginning to regret shouting at him now, she hadn't meant for it to come out like that, so cold and harsh. She didn't know why, but she seemed to be getting better at hurting other people's feelings, and that was the last thing she wanted. Putting on a smile, she butted in to Naruto's pessimistic train of thought.

"Hey, cheer up Naruto! You didn't know this was going to happen, and besides, if anyone should be sorry it's me." She sighed "If I had more training Neji would be absolutely fine and we'd have no trouble getting to a safe spot to rest before dark."

"Hmmm…" Naruto wondered, scratching his chin. "I'm sure we can still get to a safe spot in time."

"How? I can hardly walk." Neji said bluntly.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Soon Naruto had made a clone of himself, the clone bent down in front of Neji with a grin. "Well Ino helped your wounds so I'm gonna help out too! Hop on!!"

Neji's expression soon turned sour, he supposed he didn't really like either of the choices given to him, it was either sit here for some more ninjas to come along, or look like an idiot whilst riding on Naruto's back.

Eventually he chose the latter.

"Allright!! Let's get going!!!" Naruto said, pointing towards the distance.

"Yay!"

"…Hmph…"

OOOOO

After their ordeal that day, everyone felt a little closer to each other, and rather than a silent journey the whole way, everyone was joining in the discussion.

"Twelve?! No wonder you were in such bad shape, there's no way I'd take on that many people…" Ino declared, she wasn't going to try deny it, the most she'd probably take on would be about three. "I guess Naruto and I were lucky we were only attacked by one girl."

"Yeah, and she wasn't even that strong."

"Even though none of your attacks really worked on her…"

"They did too!!!"

Neji sighed as his teammates got into another little squabble. Looking up, he noticed the sun would soon be out of view, luckily they were out of the woods and no longer in what was considered a danger zone by many. The Hyuuga was impressed by the colossal amount of chakra Naruto must've had, his clone had been made some hours ago and was still going on strong, no signs of Naruto's strength wavering.

Neji was beginning to notice other things as well, like how Ino and Naruto's bickering had died down, and now they were getting on surprisingly well. The Hyuuga smirked to himself a little, perhaps there's was more to this than met the eye.

"Well the sun's setting so we should probably set up our tent before it gets dark," Neji said before pulling out the map from his bag and inspecting it further. "Hopefully if we continue at this pace we should get to the village where Lee and Tenten were last seen by tomorrow."

With that the team stopped, the clone helped Neji get down before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. "See? You love these piggy-back rides, don't'cha?"

"Don't push it." Neji mumbled before limping away.

OOOOO

The tenth attempt to put up the tent had finally succeeded, Ino had insisted on doing it by herself since Naruto had been using up a lot of chakra to get Neji here, and Neji was injured and she didn't think it'd be right to make him work any harder. The sun had set long ago by then, and Neji and Naruto sighed with relief when the tent was up, they thought it'd never happen.

Placing a hand over her mouth Ino gave a loud yawn before rubbing her eyes. "What a day…" She sighed to herself.

"Maybe you should get to sleep Ino-chan."

"Mhm, OK." The kunoichi didn't put up a fight, after all; she was exhausted, she clambered into the tent, taking in her belongings and her sleeping bag. "Well, goodnight!"

It was only when she got into the tent she realised what Naruto had called her. _'Ino-chan hm?' _Without even realising it she was blushing, a warm smile spread across her face as she climbed into her sleeping bag and began drifting off to sleep.

OOOOO

A fire crackled outside the tent as two boys watched over it, the small blaze keeping them a little warmer. Neither Naruto or Neji were planning to sleep just yet, after bickering about who would be the best choice for keeping guard, both decided to stick it out, and whoever fell asleep first was the loser (well, it had actually been Naruto's idea to turn it into some kind of competition).

"Naruto…can I ask you a question?"

"Hm, what is it?" Naruto asked curiously, he wasn't expecting Neji to start up a conversation with him.

"Why do you like Sakura?"

Naruto's eyes widened a little at that statement, for starters it was a bit of a personal question, and secondly, why on earth did Neji want to know? Naruto didn't mind answering though, he was actually kind of happy that Neji wanted to talk to him, and that's when it hit Naruto. _'Ooohhhh, so THAT's why he wants to know…' _ A large grin spread across the teen's face.

"Heh heh heh, so-o, you want her all to yourself huh? Well tough 'cause there's no way that's gonna happen!!"

"Uhh, that wasn't why I asked…"

"Oh, well in that case. I guess, uhhhm, I don't know… she's pretty, and smart, and… and."

"And are you so used to saying you've got a crush on her that now you just say it without even believing it?"

Naruto was instantly silenced, what was this guy? A psychiatrist? Either way, Naruto didn't need one, but he did want to know why Neji would suggest something like that.

"Where'd you get that idea from?" He asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Well, its not like you two spend much time with each other, she's busy with her training and so are you. You don't talk about her all that much anymore, and you don't make much of an effort to see her."

Naruto cast his eyes away, Neji was right; Naruto really didn't make the effort anymore, he didn't even blush in her presence the way he used to when he was twelve, the only obvious signs of affection he still had for her came in his dreams at night. Naruto turned back to Neji, it was odd that he knew all this stuff; he obviously paid more attention to people than Naruto had first thought…maybe Neji was some weird stalker type? Naruto didn't mention it though; he didn't want to ruin their 'bonding time'.

"I guess so, but there are still traits of hers that I find admiral in women, ya know?"

"Such as, beauty, confidence, charm…?"

"Yeah!! Wow, I didn't know you knew about this kind of stuff!"

The crackling of the fire was dying down a bit know, Neji picked up a few nearby twigs and leaves and put them on, before turning to Naruto.

"It's funny, Ino seems to have a lot of those qualities you like eh?" Neji said with a small smirk on his lips.

"Whaa!? Just what are you trying to stir up here?"

With a small chuckle Neji continued. "Don't deny it, I saw the way you two were talking earlier, I saw you blush at _least _twice."

A bead of sweat rolled down Naruto's features. Outstretching his arms, Naruto yawned loudly before getting up from his place next to the fire.

"Well, I'm probably gonna go to sleep now."

"What happened to the competition that was _your _idea?" Neji enquired.

"Uhhh….you win?"

"Hm, thought you might say that."

"Well _you_ were the one who said all those nice things about Ino. _YOU_ said she was charming and beautiful, so maybe _you _fancy her!"

"Someone's in d-e-n-i-a-"

"SHUT UP!!"

And with that, Naruto huffed at the cold night air before clambering into the tent, leaving a small smile on the Hyuuga's face; Neji knew it was fun to rile people up about their fighting abilities, but he didn't know if was just as fun to rile people up about their romantic interests too.

Naruto's sleeping bag was situated in the middle of the tent, Ino's was on his right and Neji's on his left, his eyes trailed over to where Ino was lying sound asleep. He continued to make his way into his sleeping bag, not bothering to change out of his clothes, especially since it was so cold; and it seemed Ino had the same idea too, the only thing she changed was letting her hair loose rather than keeping it tied up. Naruto wondered why she'd grown her hair back long, there was the rumour of Sasuke liking girls with long hair, but Ino never really seemed to mention him anymore.

Shrugging those thoughts aside, he looked at Ino once more, she looked so peaceful, lost in sleep, none of that brash personality showing though her still features. _'She's…pretty, really pretty.'_

Naruto gulped, he wasn't supposed to be thinking things like this, he wasn't going to give that Hyuuga more things to ridicule, after all; Neji did have eyes in the back of his head.

After making himself comfortable, it wasn't long before Naruto was fast asleep, only the crackling fire outside that Neji was still tending to and Naruto's snoring could be heard.

OOOOO

_The sky was an array of beautiful pastel colours, before him stood a beauty, her eyes were fixed on him, and it made his heart flutter wildly. She had long blonde locks of hair cascading down her shoulders, and a serene smile on her lips._

"_Naruto I-"_

"_You…?"_

"_I…" She walked up to him, getting closer and closer until he could feel her breath tickle the nape of his neck._

"_I…I love you, Naruto-kun."_

"_I love you too…Ino."_

_Ino._

_INO?!?_

OOOOO

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Naruto woke up with a shill scream, he looked to both sides, only to find an empty tent, catching his breath, he realised that it was just another one of those dreams he was always having, but there was something different about this one. For one thing, he actually got through the whole dream; he'd never actually gotten to the end of it before then. But, there was also the odd bit about the fact that Sakura had turned into Ino.

"Oh! Looks like someone's awake!" Came a chirpy voice as the door of the tent was un-zipped, letting in the bright morning sunshine, Naruto shielded his eyes, mumbling about something or other.

"Come on Naruto, rise and shine! As soon as you've finished breakfast we'll get going." Ino instructed to the sleepy and confused Naruto. Sluggishly he made his way out of the tent, finding Ino and Neji already up and ready to go (well, except for packing away the tent, which would probably take them forever).

He blushed upon seeing Ino, remembering the odd dream he had, but all too soon that look on his face turned into a scowl, since Neji was smiling at him, with a small hint of evil.

"You," He said, pointing to Neji. "I don't want to hear any of your…your…remarks, and if I do, then don't think about getting a lift from me!!" Naruto demanded, and what with Neji's battered lower limbs, he could hardly refuse the offer.

Ino just raised a brow, wondering what on earth they were talking about…

OOOOOOOOOO

_**A/N Hope you all enjoyed this instalment, and remember to R&R! Ja ne for nows!! **_


	4. Chapter 4

**Three's A Crowd!**

**Chapter Four**

_**A/N W00T! Another chapter done! Urhm yeah, hope their aren't too many mistakes ehehe, I really need to get a beta-reader =_= anyway, enjoy!**_

OOOOOOOOOO

After packing up all their belongings the team were finally on their way once more, again, Neji was having to rely on one of Naruto's clones for travel. Neji mentally sighed to himself, he'd been having fun torturing Naruto, but he couldn't do that now that he was relying on the blonde for travel. He was beginning to understand why it may not have been a good idea to do this mission alone, but he wasn't going to voice that opinion out loud.

His eyes travelled over to his two blonde teammates, they were both caught up in conversation about the mission, Neji stayed silent; not wanting to interrupt. Soon the trio had the sea in their sights, they made their way onto the sandy terrain, watching as the waves crashed against the shore.

"Our boat will pick us up here, it should only be a few more hours until we get to the land of water, and the village we're after just so happens to be right by the sea." Neji told his team, whilst Ino breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew! My feet are killing me!!"

"Mine too, and I'm soo hungry…" Naruto whined.

OOOOO

It was now late in the afternoon, and the team had finally made their way to the village they were looking for, Ino was still a little shaky from the boat ride; she'd never been on a boat before, so naturally she wasn't aware that she'd be prone to sea-sickness. And to think she'd been looking forward to that boat ride to give her feet a break.

"You OK Ino?" Naruto asked, seeming somewhat concerned for his comrade. "Don't worry, we're here now, and you don't look that weird greeny-grey colour anymore!!"

"…Thanks Naruto, you sure know how to compliment a woman…" Ino said with a look of disapproval in her eyes, although it didn't look like Naruto had noticed it.

"Really? Thanks!" Naruto said, taking her sarcasm as a serious compliment, he then proceeded to give her a forceful pat on the back, the sudden motion soon caused Ino's face to drain of its colour once more.

"Uh, Naruto…maybe you should take Ino into some kind of inn to rest up, we can start the investigations without her for now."

Ino looked down, feeling a little disappointed that rather than helping, she was hindering the mission. Naruto may have been oblivious to her sarcasm, but he defiantly noticed the sad look in her eyes now. He turned to Neji, who was slowly limping through the crowds of people.

"Sure thing, but maybe you should rest up too." Naruto commented, pointing to the Hyuuga's legs, he was no longer riding on one of Naruto's clones and was simply limping his way around the busy village, he was slowing the team down just as much as Ino, and Neji couldn't deny that Naruto raised a very good point.

Before Neji could say anymore, a shrill voice boomed through the hoards of people, causing them to scatter away from that loud cry.

Soon the team noticed a large woman, dressed in a colourful kimono and with a large bun of black hair resting on her head coming towards them, her lips were painted bright red and wore an almost too-friendly smile.

"Welcome travellers!!! I see you are in need of a place to rest!!" She chirped, before inspecting the trio, first she went up to Ino, squishing her colourless cheeks in every which way.

"What a cute young girl! A little sick hmmmm??"

Then it was onto Neji while Ino nursed her sore cheeks, the woman lifted up his damaged leg, causing the Hyuuga's arms to flail about as he tried to keep his balance. Soon his face started to drain of colour, he didn't like this woman touching him, she was a little too close for comfort.

"Ohh, what a nasty injury, and on such a dashing young specimen too…" She said, winking with a sly smile at the brunette, and now it was Neji who was feeling a little queasy.

The only one who didn't seem too freaked out by this large lady was Naruto, he was just grinning at Neji's expense, it seemed karma was on the Uzumaki's side today.

Finally the woman turned to Naruto, patting his stomach as it growled aggressively.

"And you must be hungry, Chi-Chan will make you a delicious display of delicacies to die for!!" She yelled with a hearty laugh to follow.

"So, you're Chi-chan then?" Naruto asked, before a pamphlet was shoved in his face.

"I certainly am!! And the owner of the luxury Hot Spring Hotel, the ideal place to rest up and get delicious food. Our hot springs and herbal remedies would be ideal for you and your little friends." She giggled, causing Ino and Neji to sweat.

Naruto inspected the pamphlet in his hands, this place seemed ideal; they had a team of medical experts and physiotherapists, and those hot springs sure did look nice.

It was only when Naruto turned the pamphlet over that he nearly died after reading the staggering price.

"WHAAAT!! There's no way we can afford this!!"

Ino's eyes narrowed _'I bet this old woman does this to any unsuspecting travellers who look as tired as us, and takes every penny they have.'_

"Let me see Naruto," Ino said before taking the piece of paper from him, she looked at the price, and normally it would have made her stomach churn, but thankfully, they had enough. "OK, we'll stay."

"What?! Ino are you crazy?" Neji said once he'd inspected the knew there was no way they could afford it, and Neji wasn't keen on the idea of trying to escape from this crazy lady without paying their bill.

"Relax, Naruto's got enough money for all of us to stay, right Naruto?" Ino said, giving him a sweet smile.

"But that, that was my money!"

"No it wasn't, you just happened to find it, and now we can put it to good use!" Ino said, putting an arm around Naruto's shoulder, without him even noticing, she quickly undid the zip of his backpack and took the purse out.

"Ooooh, but I was gonna save that for ramen! With that money I could've had ramen everyday for the rest of my life!!!" Soon Naruto was in a little world of his own, imagining what it would be like to have all that ramen. Soon he snapped out of it though, glaring at Ino.

"Well, your gonna have to get it off me first!!" He declared.

"Too late for that, Naruto-_kun_" Ino's voice made the blonde blush a little, before he noticed that Ino was holding the purse in her hand. "Hey! How did you-?"

Neji simply sighed at their antics, as Chi-chan clapped her hand together.

"Excellent!! Right this way my dears!" She announced before pulling them all through the crowds and to her hot spring hotel.

OOOOO

The trio soon found themselves in the Hotel having all their money taken, Naruto sulked as he mentally waved goodbye to his lifetime supply of ramen, however, he was pleasantly surprised as he got up to their room, to find a delicious looking spread of food on their table.

"WOOOOOOOW!!!! This stuff looks amazing!!" Naruto squealed, most of the dishes he'd never even seen before, but they all looked good.

"Yes yes, do tuck in!! And I hope you have a pleasant stay here!!" The old lady beamed.

Ino looked around the spacious room they were staying in, before turning to the owner. "Uhh, I only see two futons."

"Of course, a girl cannot share a room with boys!! That's a no-no!!" Chi-chan exclaimed, before opening a sliding door that separated the large room they were in to a smaller room housing another futon. "You will be sleeping in here! Well, I'll leave you dears to your business!" And with that, she left.

Ino and Neji joined Naruto at the table, and began to tuck in to the food.

"We'll start our investigation tomorrow then, for now, we'll rest up." Neji ordered, both Ino and Naruto agreed.

OOOOO

Once they had let their food go down, Naruto decided it was off to try out the hotsprings. "Are you guys coming?" Naruto asked as he picked up his towel.

"Sure thing, what about you Neji?" Ino asked the Hyuuga, who seemed lost in his own world, his white eyes gazing out of the window.

"Maybe later…"

Ino arched a brow; she could tell Neji was thinking deeply about something, she just didn't know what. She brushed that thought to one side though; she didn't want to pry into his business after all. Picking up her own towel, she followed Naruto to the door and made her way to the hotsprings.

OOOOO

"Aahhhh…this is great!" Naruto chimed to himself, he had the whole hotspring to himself, the warm water around his body helped to relax his body that ached from the all that travelling, and the steam hitting his face made his cheeks glow a soft pink colour. Beyond the high wooden fencing was the women's hotsprings, he shouted over hoping Ino could hear him.

"How's thing on your side Ino?"

No answer.

"Uhh, Ino?" Naruto called out again, finally getting an answer.

"Oh uh, sorry Naruto. Yeah, it's nice."

"Got something on your mind?" Naruto asked, he could hear in Ino's voice that she was thinking about something, he swam closer to the fence in order to hear her.

"I'm just… curious about Neji…"

For some reason, when she said that it caused a dull ache in Naruto's chest, he was just glad that she couldn't see his expression drop when she said that. Gulping, he dared to ask why.

"Uhhh, you mean, romantically?"

"No, no!! I mean… don't you think it's a little odd that Tenten and Lee were sent on a mission without him? I know they're not all Genin anymore, but still, I'm sure Neji was around when they left, so why didn't he go with them?"

Naruto sighed with relief, for some odd reason, he was only too glad that she wasn't crushing on the Hyuuga. Neji's words soon came rushing back to him though, was Neji right? Could he really have feelings for Ino? When he thought about it, it seemed to be the obvious conclusion, but Naruto wasn't sure if he was ready to accept it.

"Hmm, why don't you just ask him?"

It did make sense to ask, what was the worst he could do? Say that it's none of their business? Ino contemplated the thought, before another female approaching the hotsprings caught her eye, with the thick steam rising from to hotsprings, it was hard to see her face, but as the woman lifted her head and saw Ino, she suddenly bolted in the other direction.

Ino hadn't recognised the girl, but perhaps this girl knew Ino.

"Hey!!" The blonde said before making her way out of the hotspring, but as she turned the corner, the other girl was out of sight. Sighing, Ino picked up her towel and wrapped it around herself, she wondered who it could've been, before an image replayed itself in her mind.

"No way…it couldn't be…"

Naruto had heard Ino's voice on the other side, and decided it was probably time to get out and find out what all that commotion was. He picked up his towel and wrapped it around his middle before finding Ino outside the women's hotsprings, with a look of horror on her face.

His face turned bright red, seeing Ino in just a towel, he tried to look everywhere else but found his eyes getting drawn to her slender legs, and the point where her towel stopped covering her thighs.

"Wow, your hotspring must've been _really_ hot."

"…Huh?"

"Well, your face is pretty red," Ino said with a giggle, her look of horror washing away in an instant.

"Um, yeah…very hot…very, hot." Naruto said, not realising that he was ogling her. She coughed loudly to get his attention to her face, and it seemed to work. She wasn't offended by his staring, to be honest; she had gotten a quick peek at him too.

Ino blushed a little, admiring his chest and abdomen; she hadn't realised how toned he was; Ino always assumed Naruto wore those baggy clothes to hide a jelly-belly from all that ramen he consumed.

"Oh yeah! I came out when I heard you shouting, is something wrong?"

"Oh…" Ino's expression went back to being serious. "That girl we fought in the forest…

I think she's here."

"WHAAAT!? But how?"

"I don't know! But just don't tell Neji, he doesn't need any more stress! So just be careful OK? Cause I'm pretty sure she's after us." Ino warned Naruto, although the girl hadn't attacked, Ino just assumed it was because she was unarmed at the time, and now she knew where Ino and Naruto were, it was likely she'd come back prepared.

Naruto was shocked to say the least; he always wondered what it would be like to have a girl stalking him, but he never wanted it like this!

OOOOO

Neji's injuries would've loved a dip in those hotsprings, but the Hyuuga's main focus was the mission at hand, and unlike his teammates, he wasn't prepared to waste a single moment. Ignoring his own commands about resting up, he made his way down to the hotel's reception, where Chi-chan was sitting with that creepy smile of hers plastered onto her lips.

"OOOooooh, well hello handsome! What can I do for you?" She beamed, sending a shiver down Neji's spine. He took a photo from out of his pocket, showing it to the plump woman. "I'm here to find these two people, have you seen them around?" Neji asked monotonically.

A bead of sweat rolled down Chi-chan's features, she tugged at her sleeves before letting out a hearty laugh.

"Who, me?! No, never! I know all of my guests and haven't seen these two! No, I would recognise a face as strange as that if I'd had seen it, HA HA HAAAA!" She said pointing to Lee. Neji simply narrowed his eyes at the old woman, for one thing it was obvious that she was lying, and she didn't need to point out that it was Lee with the odd face…

"Well…thanks for looking anyway." Neji said before leaving and making his way back to the team's room. For now he couldn't really pursue this trail of their investigation much further, instead he'd make sure to keep a close eye on this Chi-chan woman. For now he would relax until their full investigation started tomorrow.

OOOOOOOOOO

_**A/N Sorry if its taking a while to get into the swing of things, usually I tend to rush things and so I didn't want to with this story, anywho, remember to R&R and let me know what you think!**_

_**Ja ne for nows!!**_


End file.
